Australia should “go for what’s smart by going big” on net zero, a senior climate change official from the UN said today, urging the country to accelerate its energy transition plans.
“Don’t settle for what’s easy. Bog standard is beneath you,” Simon Stiell, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said at an event in Sydney, as quoted by Reuters.
Australia’s current government is strongly pro-transition and has encouraged the buildout of wind and solar generation capacity in the country. However, it has also backed the continued operation of gas projects with the argument that gas is part of the transition—and because gas is a major export commodity for Australia, like coal. Also, gas is necessary to stimulate investments in wind and solar by providing baseload electricity generation.
“In order to get that investment in renewables you do need firming capacity, whether it be batteries, hydro or gas, and that is what will encourage that investment and the transition to occur,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said earlier this year. “In Western Australia they are closing their last coal-fired power station at Collie in 2027. They are moving to renewables backed by gas, and that will be a really important part of the transition that will occur.”
The Albanese government has ambitious plans for Australia’s energy mix, aiming for 82% low-carbon generation by 2030 but, according to Wood Mackenzie, it would fall short of that target, like pretty much everyone else with the exception of China.
The reason for this prediction is insufficient funding from the government for transition projects, grid connection delays and investments below expectations. According to Stiell, however, “doubling down on clean energy is an economic no-brainer”. According to critics of net-zero energy policies, these are compromising Australia’s economic growth prospects and threatening to plunge many into poverty.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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